CHICO — The digital newspaper advertising company Wanderful is moving from its current location at the Chico Municipal Airport to Broadway and the company plans on hiring local.

Wanderful”s CEO Ben T. Smith IV plans on expanding the number of employees from 44 to 60 over the next few years and he wants them to come from Chico State University”s master”s in computer science and electrical engineering programs.

“A bunch of great engineering talent spends six to seven years in Chico, and then they find they don”t want to leave Chico,” he said.

Smith worked in tandem with Chico-based Griffith Architects and David Halimi, the building”s owner to create an open, modern office.

People who work for Wanderful will spend their disposable income at downtown shops and restaurants, which is a boon for the city”s economy, said Halimi, who is also the vice president of operations for the Downtown Chico Business Association.

“The goal was to create a space that is the envy of Google and Facebook, and I think we”ve done that,” he said.

Although the office was bare Sunday morning during a welcome event, plans called for large table-like desks on which employees work together and move between the basement, main floor, second floor and loft.

It cost about $700,000 to remodel the former theater at 321 Broadway, Halimi said. The biggest challenge was working with an established structure to meet building codes.

The construction took about nine months to complete, which seemed like a long time compared to the way startup businesses spring up in Silicon Valley, where Wanderful”s corporate headquarters are located, Smith said.

But Smith decided to “make the bet on Chico,” and he”s confident he will win.